Anyone heard more about the Ekocycle 3D printer?

[Amar Shah]

Originally Posted by Quazar

Yes. When the printer starts the first time, it needs a 4 digit activation code. You go to the Cubify website and enter the printer's serial number to get that activation code. That is where I was stuck, but after a dozen or so tries with the same serial number, it finally went through. Perhaps they had a back-end server down for a while...

Our printer is now activated, but it won't print. It thinks it is printing, but nothing is coming out during the test prints. I've gone through the quickstart instructions 3 times now (in painstaking detail) so I'm pretty convinced that I'm doing everything right.

Unfortunately, I haven't found any troubleshooting guide, so I guess I'll have to talk to Cubify support if I can't get it working by messing with it.

Cheers,
- Dean

Having to activate a 3D printer and be dependent on the servers of the manufacturer is really messed up. You should not have to jump through those hoops to use a piece of hardware sitting in front of you.

[MattRain]

Originally Posted by MattRain

Just a notice to all the teams. I ordered our printer right as we got the email, showing that it was going to ship on December 9th. Emailed them, and was told that all FIRST teams that received a printer, will not be shipped until January.

Printer just arrived. YAY!

[nomad725]

Originally Posted by MattRain

Printer just arrived. YAY!

Received our printer today also!

[Quazar]

Originally Posted by Amar Shah

Having to activate a 3D printer and be dependent on the servers of the manufacturer is really messed up. You should not have to jump through those hoops to use a piece of hardware sitting in front of you.

It seems like a 1-time thing, so once it is running I think you no longer need their servers.

I believe they do this because they are also trying to be a content portal, and this ensures each machine is activated in conjunction with an on-line account. No account, no activation code.

It wouldn't be my preference to handle activation this way, but since the printer was free, I'm not going to complain!
- Dean

[Amar Shah]

Originally Posted by Quazar

It seems like a 1-time thing, so once it is running I think you no longer need their servers.

I believe they do this because they are also trying to be a content portal, and this ensures each machine is activated in conjunction with an on-line account. No account, no activation code.

It wouldn't be my preference to handle activation this way, but since the printer was free, I'm not going to complain!
- Dean

I guess if it's free it's harder to complain. Even as a donation, though, I'm not impressed. With online activation, proprietary filament cartridges, and recycled plastic greenwashing, it looks like consumer 3D printing is heading down the wrong path.

[BeardyMentor]

Originally Posted by Amar Shah

I guess if it's free it's harder to complain. Even as a donation, though, I'm not impressed. With online activation, proprietary filament cartridges, and recycled plastic greenwashing, it looks like consumer 3D printing is heading down the wrong path.

Luckily, this is not typical of most consumer 3D printers. If you look at Lulzbot, Ultimaker, Printrbot, SeeMeCNC, you will find some successful companies with great products without all of the proprietary locked down cartridges, web activation, and propaganda. These also let you use any material you want and modify the printer to allow use of even more. My team is utilizing a lot of 3D printed parts made from Nylon 12 that is made 100% from waste nylon from industrial laser sintering printers. We are printing this on a Rostock Max from SeeMeCNC with an E3D hot end.

[MattRain]

Anyone else getting a T12 Error Code? It wont let me print the test print...

[Qbot2640]

Originally Posted by Amar Shah

I guess if it's free it's harder to complain. Even as a donation, though, I'm not impressed. With online activation, proprietary filament cartridges, and recycled plastic greenwashing, it looks like consumer 3D printing is heading down the wrong path.

If they truly want this machine to be Eco-Friendly, then develop a filament maker that grinds, melts, and extrudes my plastic bottles into new filament.

[marshall]

Originally Posted by Qbot2640

If they truly want this machine to be Eco-Friendly, then develop a filament maker that grinds, melts, and extrudes my plastic bottles into new filament.

I'll settle for one that prints at the correct size at the moment. It's not a bad 3D printer but it doesn't seem to print anything at the scale it says it is printing it at currently.

[Taylor]

We got ours; it seems to work better if the red filament is on the left and the natural is on the right. We had no problem with activation code at all.
Overall we've found it to be rather user-friendly.
Monday, once we get administrative approval, we will be able to print our own designs. Right now we're stuck with the test print.

[AndreaV]

Ours came in yesterday, just a warning for the Canadian teams, duty was $190

We couldn't get it until today because we didn't have that much in cash yesterday.

[rbellini]

Originally Posted by Quazar

It seems like a 1-time thing, so once it is running I think you no longer need their servers.

I believe they do this because they are also trying to be a content portal, and this ensures each machine is activated in conjunction with an on-line account. No account, no activation code.

It wouldn't be my preference to handle activation this way, but since the printer was free, I'm not going to complain!
- Dean

I received my Cube today also. I had trouble activating it because the shipping dept. did not enter my device into their system so phone support gave me the activation code.

My cube also did not have the USB Stick. There is no software with it so I cannot convert the Inventor STL files into a .cube file for printing. I cannot find it on the web site to download so I assume I'll have to wait all weekend to get a response from support.

I also found out that the Cube firmware does not allow spaces in the Wi-Fi password or the printer name. Therefore I cannot connect my cube to the internet!

I am glad to receive a free printer and I will be sure our team meets its commitment to the Grant. However, this late in the Build Season will be a challenge to get it running so that we can produce anything to go into our robot.

The printer does have some nice features. Its print space is bigger than the MoJo and I like the ability to build in support structures without extra material. The second color is a nice feature. I’ll let you know more when I get it to print something from Inventor!

[jman4747]

To get the cube software you need to go to http://cubify.com/en/Ekocycle/Activate and click "download software" right under where it says "buy now" (Photo attached).

Converting to STL from .ipt will cause a scale issue with the part if you use export in Inventor and save as an STL. You need to open your part, go to "Print", and click "3D Print Preview". You will be able to select the units and the part will be scaled correctly. You can also increase the number of facets aka the resolution of the STL model (see other photo). After the correct units have been selected and the resolution is set to a satisfactory point you can save as an STL. I've found that after you open the file in the Cube software and select your desired settings you should save it to a flash drive and plug that into the printer directly. This will alleviate any inconsistencies with trying to send the print file over a network.

And yes I have actually printed parts for robot use, and plan to do more with this printer.

[marshall]

Originally Posted by jman4747

To get the cube software you need to go to http://cubify.com/en/Ekocycle/Activate and click "download software" right under where it says "buy now" (Photo attached).

Converting to STL from .ipt will cause a scale issue with the part if you use export in Inventor and save as an STL. You need to open your part, go to "Print", and click "3D Print Preview". You will be able to select the units and the part will be scaled correctly. You can also increase the number of facets aka the resolution of the STL model (see other photo). After the correct units have been selected and the resolution is set to a satisfactory point you can save as an STL. I've found that after you open the file in the Cube software and select your desired settings you should save it to a flash drive and plug that into the printer directly. This will alleviate any inconsistencies with trying to send the print file over a network.

And yes I have actually printed parts for robot use, and plan to do more with this printer.

Thank you for this! We use Solidworks but we've had a really hard time with the scaling and this printer. We'll give this a shot and see where we land.

[zachrobo1]

Has anyone not received theirs yet? We placed an order on December 9th and it still hasn't shipped. Time to contact Cubify I guess..